In This Life
by RBnC
Summary: Derek doesn't remember when he start's…well…remembering. One night he's going to sleep and he's just the son of two dead parents who's helping his older sister take care of his little sister and the next morning he's waking up and he remembers all of it. * Derek remembers some of his past lives and he tries to find the man he can't stop remembering.


Derek doesn't remember when he start's…well…_remembering_. One night he's going to sleep and he's just the son of two dead parents who's helping his older sister take care of his little sister and the next morning he's waking up and he remembers all of it.

_He's a werewolf and he meets him by accident when his crazy uncle bites a kid to recruit him. They don't like each other. They barely even tolerate each other. The only thing that stops one of them from killing the other is his no longer asthmatic friend._

He gets up in a hurry. He packs his things in a suitcase – it's not like he had a lot to begin with – and calls into work saying he needs some personal time. He gets the time with no problem. Five years of working in that garage and he's never missed a day yet.

_He's human and a fireman of all things. In this life he only sees him for five minutes maximum while he's trying to get him out of the burning house. They both die when a support beam collapses and crushes them._

Laura doesn't know what's wrong with him. He doesn't know what's wrong with him. He needs to go. Now. He needs to find him.

_He's human again and a librarian. He's always been quiet and shy and it's his library. He first sees him when he comes in with a bunch of his friends and they exchange smiles from across the room. He manages to ask the other on a date, to which he agrees. Derek dies on the way there when he slips on a patch of ice and skids off the road into a lake and drowns._

Cora is freaking out, too, when she first sees his bag. They've moved from apartment to apartment because of fights with other tenants a lot, but they never move far from Cora's school or Derek or Laura's job. She's scared they have to move again. He reassures her that he just needs some time to work things out. She doesn't buy it.

_He's an actual dog now and he only sees him long enough to rip his throat out as per his master's command._

He takes their mother's old Camry and leaves Laura and Cora with their father's Camaro. He doesn't know where he's going, but its west.

_He's a merman and, oddly enough, that's not the weirdest part of this life. He's there too, his tail more sleek. He's more sought after in this world than Derek is, for all his muscles do him little in this underwater life. Fishermen trap him and Derek dies trying to get him back._

He's had to stop in Ohio, Illinois, and Kansas already and he still is far too East in his gut. His senses are telling him to keep going west so he does.

_He's a muse. In the literal sense of the word. He is the son of Aphrodite and Derek is a mortal man. For all it hurts to love him, it hurts more when he is struck down by the gods for loving something meant to be intangible._

He talks to Laura and Cora – who are both still worried about him – every night before he checks into a motel. Both of their lives are going great, actually. Laura met a guy who has as much baggage as she does and is willing to help her if she's willing to help him. She doesn't know about telling him about their status as Werewolves though. Cora is doing well in school, has even joined a new club and made friends. Derek wonders – not for the first time – what he's doing.

_He's the god this time, an equivalent of Apollo or some such. Even though it's his life, the details are fuzzy. His immortal life breezes by until one day he lays his eyes upon him. When they're together, every day is like a lifetime and Derek is glad he is immortal. Until the day he is not and his love dies of old age. The rest of his immortal life is lonely and hollow._

When he has to stop in Utah, he's still not far west enough and Derek wonders if he'll have to go all the way to California to reach where he wants to go.

_Derek is a stable boy here, and he's a nobleman. Not just any nobleman, but a prince. They're together, but only until his wife finds out and has Derek lynched._

His boss calls one day when he's in Nevada and asks if everything's alright and if Derek has found what he's searching for. Derek has to tell him that he hasn't and before he can even ask for more time, Hal offers it to him.

_Derek's the same and it's almost as if it's the same life. The only difference is the he's here. Only, he is a she in this world and she's gorgeous and they're together. Until one of Derek's exes comes along and shoots her with a shotgun. Derek doesn't care as he's shot in the back with the same gun because his love is gone._

When he hits the California/Nevada border he starts feeling antsy. Against his wants, he pulls over and finds a motel in the nearest town.

_Their on a spaceship. And not an alien spaceship, one of Earth's exploratory spaceships. Derek is a security officer and he's a linguist. A Xeno-linguist. They're together here, too, but only until they're exploring some new world and Derek gets shot defending their captain._

Derek thinks about just turning around when his instincts bring him back to Beacon Hills. He never wanted to return here, to the place where his entire family burned. Most died in the fire, but his uncle lived only to succumb to his wounds a few days later. He and Laura had been all over the news and a few days later, some hikers found Cora passed out in the woods from hunger.

_He's the President and Derek is one of his advisors. They've just met when he's shot._

Derek decides to drive by his old home – the one they still own for some reason – and it brings back old memories. It also doesn't help his building anxiety.

_They grow up together. Derek is his best friends' older brother, the one they never get along with but they're always stuck with. When Derek is twenty three he's just turning eighteen. Three days after his birthday he succumbs to the illness no one but him knew he had._

The more Derek remembers, the more he doesn't want to find this person. Whoever he is, one of them seems to die after they get together. But from his memories, they're the best moments he's ever had. He decides to see it through to the end.

_Derek's a Werewolf and they meet in college. It's a rough road when Derek thinks he's only using him for sex, but they work it out and as he's leaving Derek's apartment he's hit by a drunk driver._

He's turning through a T-intersection when some asshat runs a red light and hits his car. He falls off the side of the road down a bit and he hates that he's going to die and leave his sisters alone. He never even got to see him in this world.

_Derek's a mechanic and he's his android. Derek looks at him and almost forgets he's not human with the way he acts. All the little mannerisms are there. He can sneeze, and laugh, and cry, and he can pass any droid detector. They only get three months together – and it's not even __**together**__ – before he's taken away by his creator and Derek is thrown in jail for theft._

_Derek's a Werewolf again, and he's some sort of deer centaur. Derek's injured and despite his threats he takes care of Derek anyway. The bull that injured Derek finds them and kills the both of them. Derek still has to watch him die._

_Derek's a Werewolf again but not for long because he makes a witch mad and she turns him into a dog. He's trying to make his way back to Cora when he hits Derek with his Jeep. Derek has a chance at changing back after a year, but he can't bring himself to give this up. He dies of old age before his love turns thirty._

He wakes up to florescent lights and the smell of chemicals. He thinks he's in a hospital but he can't really confirm anything before he's falling unconscious again.

_Derek's a pirate – a captain, even – and he's a siren. He doesn't sing for them, doesn't even open his mouth. He doesn't have a chance before one of his crewmen is firing at him._

_Derek's an angel – a fallen angel, but an angel nonetheless – and he's a demon. A rather high ranking one at that by the way he doesn't have to lift a finger to get the creatures attacking him to leave. They spend quite a bit of time together before Hunters find them and kill him. Derek has to watch, in agony, as he falls to the floor and the Hunters try to do Derek in as well. Nothing works because they don't have an angels' blade. Derek kills the Hunters and goes to find one of his brothers to end him._

He wakes again to his hospital room. There's a nurse working in his peripheral vision, but he's too tired to look around the room. The nurse is talking to someone and the voice sounds familiar, but he can't place it. He falls asleep again wondering where he's heard that voice.

_He's terminally ill this time and Derek's trying to find a cure for him. They only talk three times before he goes into cardiac arrest and the surgeons aren't able to save him._

_Derek's a single father for his son and he's the new teacher. They get along well. Extremely well, in fact. But it's painfully obvious when he becomes sick and Derek points it out. It earns him a snide remark and he leaves the room in a huff. Derek doesn't see him again._

When he opens his eyes this time, he doesn't feel nearly as disoriented or tired as he did the last few times. He wonders exactly how long he's been in a hospital and he worries that his sisters don't know where he is. There's a nurse by his side, checking on his IV's and Derek can hear his heart beat alter on the heart monitor.

_Derek is his teacher now and they're not really allowed to be together. They're together anyway and Derek gets fired when people find out. He literally gets shot when people think he's a pedophile despite both of them being of legal age._

"Hey, sleepy head, how are you feeling?" He smiles at Derek as he continues checking on him. He's a nurse of all things. Derek wants to laugh at the irony of that. He's died from illnesses so many times, now he's fighting them off.

_Derek's the nurse here and they meet when he brings in his friend who's broken his arm. Derek gets them settled in and after a few hours filled with shy flirting he leaves with his friend and Derek never sees him again._

"Hi." Derek's voice is croaking, as if he hasn't talking in a very long time. He takes in his smiling face and if Derek's half as good at reading people as he thinks he is, there's love and adoration in his expression. Could he remember too?

_Derek doesn't know there is an assassin after him until he has his blade sticking through his chest as he looks down at him sadly._

Derek almost panics when he sticks his head out the door and calls for someone named Melissa. Derek thought he'd leave and Derek would never see him again. It occurs to Derek that he doesn't know his name. He'd always looked the same but neither of them had the same name. It always had the same general theme, but in his life, Derek couldn't be too certain.

_He's an alien. He's an alien with a box who can travel through time and space. Derek is his companion and they're together. In every sense of the word. Until Derek gets trapped in an alternate reality where he doesn't exist._

After the doctors check him over and he gives them his information, he learns that he's been in a coma for over a year now and his sisters have no idea where he is. He calls them and Laura starts crying and yelling over the phone immediately. He assures his sisters that he's okay and can they come get him. Laura agrees and she'll be on a plane out first thing in the morning. When he hangs up the phone, the nurse is nowhere in sight. Derek tries to convince himself that he doesn't panic.

_He's fay now and a trickster at that. Derek's a Werewolf and he wants nothing more than for them to mate. The night before their ceremony, he's drawn back into Avalon and forced to marry another._

Derek doesn't see him again until the next day and Laura's in the room with him already. She couldn't wait and she'd gone to the airport and boarded the first flight to California. The nurse just smiles and checks Derek over, making sure that he's fit enough to leave. Aside from a bit of muscle deterioration, he's perfectly healthy. He comments that people in comas aren't normally this fit after a year. Laura laughs it off and Derek always having been incredibly healthy. He leaves and Derek still doesn't know his name.

_He's a singer and a model and Derek is his body guard. They're together and they grow old together and Derek thinks this is one of their better lives._

He's checking himself out of the Hospital while Laura grabs something from the vending machine when Derek sees him. He's talking to an older woman with darker skin. He faintly remembers him calling her Melissa.

_He's a detective – or something else, Derek can't be too sure – and he's arrogant and distant. Derek is a war vet and they live together, happily. Until he jumps off a roof._

He walks over and coughs to get their attention. The older woman smiles and quickly leaves with an excuse that Derek can tell is a lie from the way her heart ticks. He turns around and smiles, as if Derek's just hung the moon for him. Derek thinks that if he could, he would.

_They're both FBI agents and they're close, but not together yet. They're close like brothers and it all ends one day when an unsub shoots drugs into his veins and he overdoses._

"Hey, you." He greets and Derek wonders what he was thinking. What can he say to this man, this perfect man, to see him more? He's literally moving back to New York in two days, which was the soonest Laura could get tickets.

_Derek is a singer and he's a writer for the local newspaper. They share one night together before they never see each other again. Derek tries, but he can't ever find him._

It hits Derek that he's literally jobless and he'll be no help to Laura at all. He doesn't need to be in New York because now Cora is eighteen and legally an adult. They've all got the money from the insurance claim that they've never touched. They don't need to work and they don't need him. They want him there, but he doesn't need to be there. He could stay here and rebuild their house. Does he want to?

_Derek has superpowers. Derek's incredibly strong and fast and his senses are perfect. He's the opposite; he's smart, incredibly smart, and he remembers everything and he can absorb knowledge through only touch. He's frail though, so Derek protects him. Their kind isn't liked too much and they're murdered in cold blood by militants._

"Sir? Are you feeling okay?" He thinks that, yes, he does, because this man is worth it. From all of his memories, he is worth it. Even if they don't end up together like Derek wants, he wants to be in the beautiful man's life.

_It's the end of the world and they're two of the last few humans on the earth. They spend their days wandering from town to town and just trying to survive. They're together here and they enjoy every day together. Derek is the first to go in this world, and it's not because of a zombie or a rogue. It's because of an infection he'd overlooked. Derek frets that he'll follow in his footsteps._

"I'm thinking of staying in town for a while. I was wondering if you'd know a few good places to go." Derek tries but he hasn't flirted since Kate had burned down his house with most of his family inside. He smiles and laughs a bit but nods, saying he'd love to show Derek around when he has the time. He gives Derek his number and walks off when the older woman comes back with a clipboard. He leaves and Derek still doesn't know his name.

_He's a hunter and Derek is his Prey. Derek, for all that he is super human and a Werewolf, cannot outrun him. It doesn't matter because he doesn't kill him. Doesn't hurt him at all, in fact. He lowers his weapon and tells Derek to run before the rest of the Hunters get there and kill him. Derek runs and only stops when he hears the Hunters kill him instead._

Laura freaks out when he tells her he wants to stay. After three hours of yelling in the motel room, she calls Cora and SHE yells at Derek for three hours. They both freak out even worse when he tells them he wants to use the money from the fire to rebuild the house.

_Derek is Alpha of a Werewolf tribe and he's his 'bride' – his prize for agreeing to a truce. Derek doesn't agree with giving away people, but refusal would result in war and his people couldn't take it right now. He doesn't mind because he falls in love with him and they make things work despite not knowing the other's language._

It's three months later and the house is rebuilt, large enough for a large family to fit in, despite him not having one. Laura and Cora have offered to come stay with him, though they don't want to ever return to that house. Its layout is completely different – Derek had made sure of that – and nothing is the same. He'd had the entire remnants of the house bulldozed and new plans drawn up. He's also made headway with Stiles – that's his nickname in this universe, but Derek doesn't know his birth name – and they're going on a date next Friday.

_Derek's a cop and he has to arrest him – Stiles – and it's for something as idiotic as 'defacing public property'. Stiles flirts with him shamelessly and Derek kind of just…doesn't arrest him really. They end up dating for a while. They get married. They adopt kids together. Then Derek gets shot on the job._

Or, it was supposed to be a date. When Derek arrives at Stiles' house – or the address he'd given him – a woman answers the door before giving him a sneer and calling for Stiles. When he rushes down the stairs, he's dressed in a nice button up shirt and semi-formal slacks. Derek thinks he looks amazing. The woman is still glaring when she tells Stiles that someone – Millie, she says – wants to say goodnight before he leaves.

_They're both single fathers when they meet at a 'Daddy and Me' class. Their kids get along really well and they end up spending a lot of time together. They end up getting married and growing old together._

She glares him into next Sunday and tells him that if she hurts one hair on Stiles' pretty little head, she'll skin him alive and bury his body somewhere no one will ever find. Derek smells the air around himself and stiffens when he realizes that she's a Werewolf.

_Stiles owns a bakery and Derek has an immense sweet tooth; he always did. They meet through Stiles' bakery and Derek is a regular customer._

The date part actually goes well until Stiles tells him that his friend Scott wants to meet him. Scot comes up a lot in their conversations. Derek doesn't know about that because Scott sounds extremely critical of all of Stiles' past boyfriends.

_Derek and his family are famous, like the Kardashians only with less drug use and backstabbing, and he hates every minute of it. He meets Stiles online by accident. They plan to meet in person and as Derek's plane is on its way, they hit turbulence and drop out of the air. Derek was asleep for all of it._

"So how long are you going to keep up pretenses?" Stiles asks him as he's driving him home – he'd bought himself a car after two weeks of having to walk fifteen miles to get anywhere from his house – one night. Derek asks what he means and Stiles gives him a coy smile and drops the subject.

_They're both human, in a dystopian society, and they're forced to kill their friends before their friends kill them._

Stiles convinces him to meet all of his friends and when Derek enters the living room, he feels like he's walking to his death. He kind of is, in fact, when all of his friends reveal that they are not human. Aside from three people, they're all Werewolves and they'd smelled him the minute Stiles had come home from their first date. Scott is an Alpha and he's willing to let Derek into their pack. Derek doesn't know how to react because he doesn't want to leave his sisters and he loves them, but he wants this. He wants a life with Stiles and a pack with an Alpha.

_Derek's a conman and Stiles is his partner. Derek does all the talking face-to-face and all of the labor, but Stiles is the brains behind the operation._

After a bit of thought, he agrees. When he calls and tells Laura and Cora, they're happy for him. Cora talks about coming to town to see him during her break and maybe he can introduce her to his pack. Derek asks if she wants in and he's ask Scott, but Cora says she's happy where she is.

_Derek's CIA and Stiles is his handler. It works out amazingly, despite Stiles being blind, until it doesn't. Derek ands up faking his suicide and he's gone for too long. Stiles moves on without him._

A few months later, the entire pack has moved into the new Hale house and Stiles is sharing his room with him. They're in bed, lying together after an amazing round of sex, when Stiles asks him, "Can I ask you something?" Derek doesn't think he could deny Stiles anything.

_They meet at a party one of Stiles' friends is throwing. It's dark and it's loud and Derek is far drunker than he should be. They both are, if the way he's swaying is any indication. So they kiss and they make the drunken mistake of sleeping together. It doesn't end up being a bad mistake, though, because they end up going out for coffee after._

Stiles asks him if he believes in soul mates and Derek assures him that they are real and that Stiles should never, ever doubt that. Derek tells him that **they** are soul mates, no matter what happens he will always love Stiles.

_They're serial killers. Not something Derek could actually see himself doing in his life, but in this one, it makes enough sense with what he went through. Stiles just wants to make him happy and is more than creative enough that they never get caught._

"This isn't the first time we've met." Stiles confesses. He tells Derek that he has these memories of them being together. Of them always finding each other. And when they'd brought Derek into the hospital he'd had to bribe Melissa – who is actually Scott's mom – into letting Stiles be Derek's nurse.

_They're both college students. Derek is going for a degree in business and Stiles is getting three degrees all at once. He's ambitious, but his goal is well within his reach. After they get their degrees, Derek takes over the family company from his uncle and Stiles becomes a writer. They're friends here, and though Derek wants more, Stiles has made it obvious that he has no desires like that. Derek just wants Stiles to be happy, so they keep their relationship platonic._

Derek is stunned into silence for a bit and he only snaps out of it when Stiles looks worried and tries to get out of their bed. Derek pulls him back and tells him about his memories and how they're what brought him back to Beacon Hills in the first place. How his instincts were screaming at him that he wasn't where he was supposed to be and he'd always been told to follow his instincts so he did.

_Stiles is mute and Derek has to struggle through rapid Signing before Stiles catches on that Derek has no idea what he's saying. It's a rough start, with a lot of clashing comments, but eventually they find common interests and Derek starts learning Sign. They grow old together in this life and Derek loves every minute of it._

Stiles' grin is wonderful throughout Derek's entire explanation. They talk throughout the night and they compare memories. There are a few that Stiles has that Derek doesn't remember yet and there are some that Derek has to walk Stiles through. But they are always together. Maybe not in the fashion that they are now, but they're always together. They promise that they'll always find the other again.


End file.
